Our newest, ultra dense, shallow and first ever artificial fish habitat arrangement in a reclaimed plastic barrel, holds hundreds of separate pieces of never before seen cuts and profiles of 100% reclaimed PVC habitat. We’ve found a way to display and ship our most robust habitat creations, tighter and tougher for the fish! Seven inches of thick concrete hold things together in the base and heavily weighted in the bottom of the barrel, standing up in all conditions.
Each completed Barrel habitat is unique and one of a kind, just like we find in nature. Colorful, abstract and always welcoming, fish gravitate into the thousands of individual crevices provide within the intricate and ever changing, detail.
Large footprint and extreme weight hold these towering creations in one place forever. Installation is a breeze. You can simply drag or carry them with the incorporated handles, or use a two wheel dolly cart. Once in the boat, pontoon or on the dock, you can roll them around on edge and push it into the water. It stands up no matter what, on slopes and current areas. Taller, heavier and wider options are always available, contact us today to talk about your ideas and goals.
Barrels full of fish, hiding spots and ultra dense cover, hit the water for 2021 with unmatched variety, complexity and unlimited flexibility. Ready to sink in minutes, no assembly, materials or additional tools needed, roll into water to and fish! Unlimited variety available, more sizes coming soon. Ask us about making your own custom size, shape, and included materials to design your own barrels just for your lake, dock, pond or river frontage.
The barrel base is 20″ in diameter and stands almost 8″ tall, full of strong cement.
The reclaimed barrels offer a sturdy and durable container that can be rolled on edge with ease.
Two included cotton rope handles, allow user to slide, lift or pull them off the dock or boat once in position.
For extreme current applications, the entire barrel can be dug in and planted like a bush, never to move from it’s original position. Coming three on a pallet, they get shipped right to your door, ready to be unfolded and HOUSE FISH THE DAY THEY ARRIVE.
When considering fish habitat, I think we need to discuss the role artificial fish habitat can serve. They’re being used more and more, especially in large southern reservoirs devoid of important structure fish need. Fish managers have traditionally placed bundles of Christmas or cedar trees on the lake bottom to provide cover for fish. Because the lifespan of tree bundles and brush piles is limited, replenishing them has always been an ongoing and expensive process.
One advantage of artificial habitat structures that help explain their growing popularity is that they don’t decay or deteriorate. But can “anything” man-made be placed in our waters and be called fish habitat? If we throw a rusty wheelbarrow into a lake today and catch a fish on it next week, can we genuinely say we’ve added fish habitat and therefore improved the lake? Are we unknowingly turning our lakes into landfills or the equivalent of the town dump under the guise of creating fish habitat? Is it really true that any structure of any kind is better than nothing? If you’ve ever wondered if there’s any discernible line between “junk” and authentic fish habitat, you wouldn’t be alone.
If there’s any hope of understanding the potential benefits using artificial fish habitat might offer, I think we need to uncouple two terms: Fish habitat and fishing. Effective fish habitat needs to protect young fish too small to be of interest to anglers. The metric to evaluate how useful fish habitat is must be re-calibrated. The question shouldn’t be how many trophy bass did you catch this year on the habitat, but how many young-of-the year bass survived the brutal gauntlet of their first year of life because of the protection that habitat provided. It could be argued that the most successful fish habitat would be one that only attracted age 0 fish and was a lousy fishing spot.
As anglers, we need to modify our point of view. Fish habitat should be regarded as an investment in the hope of a better day’s fishing in the future, not something with instant payoffs today. If fish habitat isn’t a vehicle for fish recruitment, what good is it? Today, there isn’t a single designer of any artificial fish habitat that doesn’t promise their product or design will protect young fish. These are merely assertions that haven’t met their burden of proof. These claims must be demonstrated before we have warrant to accept them as true. Where is the evidence that any assemblage of man-made parts and scrap material does anything to help even a single fish survive its first year, let alone to adulthood?
So far, Fishiding.com is the only design that has continuously and consistently documented in hundreds of underwater pictures and videos over the years the efficacy of their product.
If you work in the fish management sector, you should absolutely demand evidence that whatever artificial habitat you’re considering spending resources on legitimately works. As condescending as it may sound, intuition or gut feeling is not evidence. If we’re not more careful about scrutinizing and properly evaluating artificial fish habitat, we run the risk of unknowingly crossing what should be a distinct line between what authentic habitat is and what’s simply junk.
Part Nine: Modular Habitat Complexes as Large as City Blocks
As we better understand how to create and assemble habitat components that work best together, we now also see the need to scale the overall complex size accordingly. Habitat installations are vulnerable to all kinds of unique forces underwater. Installation of multiple habitat pieces in one collected group, is now the accepted best practice. Especially in public waters, it can be difficult keeping these individually weighted components all together on the lake floor. Fishing pressure, strong currents, and weather events are just a few causes that can move habitat. To properly install vast amounts of fish habitat and have it permanently remain in a group, a fully engineered and pre-weighted modular attachment system was needed. It also needed to be simple to use, requiring no special equipment, tools or experience. Finally, to improve effectiveness and cost, the habitat needed to be larger, taller and heavier than anything previously considered or produced. These are the factors that shaped the decisions that lead to the design of the new Modular Habitat Mats by Fishiding.com.
Although many different prototypes, designs and sizes of these new mat configurations have been created, none had yet been installed into any of our test waters. As decisions were being made regarding final product sizes, weights and models to begin to offer, a call came in from Laura Salamun, the owner of Point View Resort on the famous Lake of the Ozarks. “Fishing is our thing and it’s important to our resort guests”, she told us. “We want to have them catching fish non-stop, all year long.” This was just the challenge we needed to assess the full scale delivery, assembly and installation of 20 different mats of various configurations. This was a perfect opportunity to test the new Habitat Mats against many of the key metrics: This is a fishing resort with almost constant fishing pressure from shore to over 25 feet off three different floating docks. It’s located on a large public reservoir with stiff current, substantial slope, year-round boating pressure and unpredictable weather events.
A customized layout and set of habitat plans were designed and approved to best accommodate the resort guests and their favorite fishing areas. Mats were specifically designed, selected and placed in spots that would best serve the present fish species. Would our delivery, assembly and installation work as planned?
We had put the time in underwater studying the fish. By scuba diving and recording their interaction with various habitat materials over years, we knew the fish would gravitate into the newly designed complex and stay. The 20 individual mats, habitat models and supplies were shipped down and carried by hand onto the floating docks for assembly and placement. Some mats were completely finished and ready to slide into the water, while others had additional habitat materials attached to them on site to create even more complexity. No cable, rope, wood or brush was used, keeping the entire system snag-free and long lasting.
Today’s video highlights the ease and scale of the Habitat Mat installation at Point View Resort with 20 separate, single level Mats. In the near future, these Mats will be installed in an array of considerably larger sizes, and unique shapes that will weigh thousands of pounds combined. Mats will be stacked into multiple three dimensional layers, creating permanent rooms, tunnels and floors, all built solely for fish habitation. Imagine a kind of underwater housing boom including roadways, parks, grocery stores and schools. Modular complexes each a city block in size and two or three stories tall. Islands of cover linked together for relaxing, hunting or hiding. A fish oasis. Fishiding.
Designing and building effective fish habitat is a genuine science. It’s still in its infancy, but we’re learning a great deal every day about the nuances of design and deployment. With today’s deep interest in artificial fish habitat, we’re eager to share our findings with fisheries professionals who want to learn more.
If you’ve missed any part of this series you can catch up at http://www.structurespot.com For more information contact David Ewald at https://www.fishiding.com Phone: (815) 693-0894 Email: sales@fishiding.com
In recent years, many new types of artificial fish habitat and various fish attractor styles have been installed from coast to coast. State agency fish managers and the fisheries industry as a whole, are using them to strategically enhance cover where natural habitat is at a premium. Although becoming very popular, numerous installers have reported some unanticipated problems. Because many current designs are fairly lightweight, they can be easily movable if not heavily weighted with additional materials. Once deployed, some models are prone to tipping over, sliding or being pushed around by wind, current and weather events. Boaters can inadvertently catch them on anchor lines, dragging them far from designated locations. Fisherman with strong braided lines can haul them up with this heavy gear. We’ve even heard reports of fisherman who find the attractors and move them to their own secret “honey holes”. Carefully marked GPS coordinates of where the structures were placed and should still be may be becoming less and less reliable, as installed materials get dragged away from the initial installation site.
Fishiding Habitat has been addressing these concerns throughout their product line, including the introduction of the new patent pending line of products called Fish Habitat Mats. Simply put, they’re immovable, modular, habitat platforms that an array of habitat components can be secured upon/inside in limitless configurations. They can be carried, rolled or slid around quite easily during assembly, but become virtually immobile once on the lake floor. Hundreds of pounds of safe, dense cover can be secured in one secure cluster. The Mats will create extremely large complexes of cover, breaking a size barrier that has been previously limiting. Now, the dimensions and proportions of the habitat complexes can be measured in yards not feet. They can be as large as you want them, creating the kind of genuine fish-holding habitat that up until now has been unimaginable. We finally have a way to create credible artificial rivals to large pieces of coarse woody habitat, sunken timber, dense beds of vegetation and other kinds of habitat that nature ordinarily provides.
Today’s video takes us to the Point View Resort on Missouri’s sprawling Lake of the Ozarks. Fishiding.com recently placed twenty separate Fish Habitat Mats, all outfitted with a variety of their habitat models and various PVC components. The Habitat Mats are designed to provide cover and protection for fish, along with improved angling opportunities for the resort’s fishing guests. The massive complex comprised of dozens of different models of artificial habitat, is believed to be the largest and most sophisticated of its kind ever used in a single location. We have known for years that to create a real fish magnet that’s stable, permanent and holds vast numbers of fish, it needs to be heavy and it needs to be big. The new Habitat Mat system recently placed in Lake of the Ozarks is colossal in scope. It’s a sophisticated fish-friendly habitat framework that was designed to grow aquatic life and make a real footprint on the lake floor, attracting and protecting substantial numbers of fish.
The largest pieces tower from the lake floor some 16 feet creating underwater skyscrapers for fish to use as refuge. In total, the assembled complex weighs over 7,000 pounds and creates over 8,500 square feet of surface area. Other resorts, including the Point View as well as individual homeowners on Lake of the Ozarks, have for decades placed cedar trees or brush piles into the lake attempting to attract fish. Recent flooding and storms washed away virtually all the existing fish habitat that was previously placed at the Point View Resort. The Fishiding Reclaimed Artificial Fish Habitat, incorporated and anchored to the newly installed Fish Habitat Mats, have the kind of permanence and stability that fish managers have been asking for.
Designing and building effective fish habitat is a genuine science. It’s still in its infancy, but we’re learning a great deal every day about the nuances of design and deployment. With today’s deep interest in artificial fish habitat, we’re eager to share our findings with fisheries professionals who want to learn more.
If you’ve missed any part of this series you can catch up at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Krzy… For more information contact David Ewald at https://www.fishiding.com Phone: (815) 693-0894 Email: sales@fishiding.com
In studying much of the available online literature written about artificial fish habitat, we’ve noticed a curious thing. Often times, the makers of artificial habitat, both the store bought and “homemade” variety, boast about their effectiveness and performance by comparing them to Christmas trees. Using Christmas trees as any kind of bench mark is a straw man argument. Why compare your structures to something that’s widely considered to be one of the least durable and least effective types of fish habitat? Statements like “habitat X outperformed Christmas trees or they held more fish than Christmas trees” are meaningless.
When evaluating artificial fish habitat, we feel that comparisons should be made not to Christmas trees, but to natural elements like 60 foot oak trees or giant white pines that fall in the lakes, huge and gorgeous beds of tall coontail, or bays of dense lily pads and grasses. These are the kinds of fish habitat that truly sustain and provide for current and future fish populations. We all can see how inferior our man made artificial habitat work is, when compared to a full scale, natural habitat. These mega sized and natural objects are the kinds of “real” fish habitat we should all be striving to compete with. Artificial fish habitat should be exceptional or at least really good, not merely good enough. Is the rebuttal simply “Well, we’re just trying to create fish attractors for fisherman, and not really habitat per say”? Creating attractors are a worthy endeavor as well, however, for those interested in creating actual fish habitat, the apparent interchangeability of the two terms often leads to misunderstanding.
Over the course of this series about artificial fish habitat, we’ve shown you a great deal of underwater video of Fishiding habitat in action. This time we’d like to show you something very different. Today’s video illustrates what we need to be striving towards when we’re thinking of future artificial habitat projects. This clip shows how nature provides fish habitat in a vastly superior way than we’ve been able to accomplish so far: This large and majestic pine tree weighing thousands of pounds grew for decades on the shore until it was damaged one night in a thunderstorm. When it crashed into the lake, it began a second life as a home to fish, turtles, waterfowl and dozens of other creatures big and small that would come to utilize it. It’s size and complexity is enormous. The root wad remains on the bank with the top of the tree extending 60 feet from shore over a sharp break line. This created both extensive cover, space underneath and around the tree complex, all habitat that fish could utilize. This is what genuine fish habitat looks like….an authentic Camelot for thousands of fish. Let this be your inspiration the next time you think about what artificial fish habitat could be.
When we compare this single tree to the typical kinds of artificial habitat mankind has come up with so far, our shortcomings are starkly apparent. We have all been thinking much too small. The challenge is not to make something that may function as well as a new Christmas tree, but to have higher aspirations, daring ourselves to design and deploy the kinds of habitat that Mother Nature herself will approve. Nature and all the creatures above and below the waterline are speaking to us, we just need to listen.
Fishiding.com is excited to announce their new line of products for 2019 called Fish Habitat Mats. This modular, fully customizable and self-contained system, could very well change the direction and future of habitat installations as we know them today. Attributes never before seen include gigantic size in all three dimensions, intricate and unlimited complexity, huge underwater footprint and towering vertical height. In the next part of this continuing ten part series, we’ll show you the revolutionary new design that’s recently been placed in Lake of the Ozarks and is already full of fish. This first ever Habitat Mat installation was comprised of dozens of individual habitat structures and is believed to be the largest and most sophisticated of its kind ever used in a single location in a public lake environment.
Designing and building effective fish habitat is a genuine science. It’s still in its infancy, but we’re learning a great deal every day about the nuances of design and deployment. With today’s deep interest in artificial fish habitat, we’re eager to share our findings with fisheries professionals who want to learn more.
If you’ve missed any part of this series you can catch up at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Krzy… For more information contact David Ewald at https://www.fishiding.com Phone: (815) 693-0894 Email: sales@fishiding.com
When we’re testing a new model of Fishiding Artificial habitat in a lake setting, we always let the fish make the basic decisions. No matter how much we may like a structure we design, if the fish don’t respond to it, it’s shelved. We’re not interested in deploying constructions that masquerade as habitat but do nothing in the lakes. If fish reject them, so do we. There’s no guessing involved. All our habitat is literally fish tested and approved.
It can be difficult to determine if fish really like a certain piece of habitat or not. When evaluating the effectiveness of artificial fish habitat, one important metric we use is something we call the allegiance score. In marketing, it’s similar to what advertising people refer to as brand loyalty. Simply put, this means the degree to which adult fish linger in, or hold onto, any particular piece of cover, and how reluctant they are to leave it. This observed behavior is graded subjectively on a scale of zero to five. For example, in the spring, many Centrachids will absolutely refuse to vacate their nesting sites, even when molested. We can say that the allegiance score for the nesting site is 5. Nesting crappies aren’t nearly as immovable in the same situation, so their allegiance score in their own nesting site would be a 3. Catfishes in this same scenario typically score a 4. If we place a piece of habitat in the water and fish swim by it as if it’s invisible, it gets an allegiance score of zero. Basically, we reason that if fish ignore our structures or won’t stage on them, something has failed. We feel that scores of 5 can’t realistically be expected for any fish that’s not protecting fry or eggs. So we’re looking for allegiance scores of 3 or 4.
Today’s video gives you a visual idea of the process described. The video shows a single large bass staging on a group of our bunker complexes. Almost immediately, the fish becomes aware of our cameraman approaching in SCUBA diving gear. The bass has every opportunity at this point to flee but remains with the habitat. The bass is approached more closely to determine her allegiance to the structure. By this point, there is some measure of danger to her, and her body language signals some alarm. As we circle her and explicitly invade her comfort zone she turns and has yet another opportunity and a clear path to flee. However, she retains position close to the habitat even in the face of undetermined threat. It’s almost as if she’s tethered to it. We interpret this behavior as a genuine reluctance to abandon this fish habitat structure. We would therefore assign an allegiance score of 4. This tells us that this model is accepted by the fish and is performing as intended.
The allegiance score is one of the tools we regularly use to determine if our artificial habitat passes the fish test. In case you think that fish will stage on basically any structure, we can assure you this is not the case. We’ve discovered that fish are much more discriminating than we would have ever imagined. In fact, we’ve tested many artificial habitat models that scored a zero on this test and failed miserably in other evaluations we use to determine performance. These duds (if they were made by Fishiding) were all scrapped. While we don’t do the stringent testing the FDA does on pharmaceuticals, we do like to know if our habitats actually work as advertised. We certainly wouldn’t be using any that didn’t perform exceptionally.
Designing and building effective fish habitat is a genuine science. It’s still in its infancy, but we’re learning a great deal every day about the nuances of design and deployment. With today’s deep interest in artificial fish habitat, we’re eager to share our findings with fisheries professionals who want to learn more. We’ve come a long way since the days of throwing discarded Christmas trees into our lakes and calling it a day. Stay tuned. In this continuing series, we’ll show you underwater video of how fish utilize artificial habitat and why so many popular designs are completely ineffective.
The Science Behind Fishiding Artificial Fish Habitat-Underwater Video (Part 4 of 10)
If you’ve missed any part of this series you can catch up at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Krzy… For more information contact David Ewald at https://www.fishiding.com Phone: (815) 693-0894 Email: sales@fishiding.com
Human beings like their world to be tidy, neat, and straight. We mow our lawns to look like the 18th green at Pebble Beach. The rooms in our homes are perfectly rectangular. We even park parallel to each other. On our farms, the corn is planted and grown in flawlessly even rows. Our city downtowns resemble blocks of box-like structures that are uniform, neatly organized, and composed of straight lines. We use levels relentlessly. If something falls askew or deviates from our rigid conception of order, it’s immediately corrected. Nature, on the other hand is all about apparent chaos. Trees and plants left unattended grow in whichever direction they like. There is no symmetry to an oak tree or to a patch of wild blackberries. A walk in a thick forest is kaleidoscopic, filled with seemingly limitless angles and lines in every direction. Nothing appears arranged or choreographed. Ultimately, perhaps, this is how we discern what’s man-made from what’s natural.
When we started making Fishiding Artificial Habitat, we realized we had to resist the natural human tendency to make these structures geometric. After all, they weren’t going to be placed on our back-yard patios for friends to admire. Instead, they were going to be used in nature—in wild underwater worlds where the currency of uniformity and precise geometry that pleases our human eyes is worthless and alien. To be fully embraced by the fish they were intended to serve, artificial habitat would have to possess the hallmark of natural design. In short, apparent chaos.
Today’s underwater video does a great job of showing you the disordered and untidy non-design of Fishiding artificial habitat. As in a wild forest, you can see how the structures are deliberately created to be random and chaotic. While there are some vertical and horizontal angles, almost all the panels are slanted, twisted, and tilted into a complicated labyrinth imitating coarse woody habitat. The structures offer hidden passageways with dark shadowy hideaways, and they challenge predators with heavily obstructed sight-lines that work to insure the safety and protection of foraging fish. Additionally, there’s a maze of tight spaces that larger fish cannot penetrate. Effective fish habitat must be constructed with a labyrinth of pockets and retreats that are completely inaccessible to larger predators.
While it appears that all the advantage goes to forage species and juvenile fish, predator fish like the smallmouth bass in this video patrol the perimeter. They’re able to penetrate some of the interior but have to sacrifice important ambush speed to navigate the maze. This handicap allows small fish to easily hide or escape. While they’re prevented from unobstructed views or making torpedo-like attacks, large bass patiently linger in the open water nearby where outliers might venture to be picked off. The goal is to create low predation risk and reduce the attack-to-capture ratio but not eliminate it entirely.
There’s a real distinction between form and function. For artificial fish habitat to have any legitimate purpose at all, it needs to be genuinely functional and cannot just occupy space on the lake floor. Does your artificial habitat provide fish with shade, cover, safety, refuge, and food as well as natural habitat does? We believe this can only be achieved by effectively mimicking the chaotic designs we see in nature. They will always outperform the constructions that look like they would be more at home in our human world than in the home of a fish.
Designing and building effective fish habitat is a genuine science. It’s still in its infancy, but we’re learning a great deal every day about the nuances of design and deployment. With today’s deep interest in artificial fish habitat, we’re eager to share our findings with fisheries professionals who want to learn more. We’ve come a long way since the days of throwing discarded Christmas trees into our lakes and calling it a day. Stay tuned. In this continuing series, we’ll show you underwater video of how fish utilize artificial habitat and why so many popular designs are completely ineffective.
The Science Behind Fishiding Artificial Fish Habitat-Underwater Video (Part 3 of 10)
For more information contact David Ewald at https://www.fishiding.com Phone: (815) 693-0894 Email: sales@fishiding.com
The Sprocket Fish Spawning Rocket is the only, multi-species, artificial spawning structure, designed exclusively for nest protection and fry survival.
Self weighted and fully assembled, this 14 pound spawning rocket, can be installed directly from the box into shallow spawning water.
Three individual compartments provide fish a choice to bed in any direction with three sided protection, each measuring approx. 15″x72″ with an overall diameter of over seven feet!. More habitat models at fishiding.com
First off, let’s not continue to confuse fish habitat with fish attractors. There are many substabtial differences between the two and what each product is intended for. Both products attract fish, but only habitat holds the future of fishing.
Under the Fisheries Act, fish habitat is defined as: “Spawning grounds and nursery, rearing, food supply and migration areas on which fish depend directly or indirectly in order to carry out their life process. (Fisheries Act Section 34(1))”.
Artificialfish habitat as defined above, is simply habitat that is man made with materials not found in nature. Although made from mainly plastics, the intended goal is absolutely the same. Reproduction and protection of more fish.
The planting of native aquatic plants, installing brush, rock, deadfalls and timber would be considered supplemental natural habitat. These types of materials succeed in replacing natural materials that have decayed or have been lost to siltation, erosion and development, but were once present.
Artificial fish attractors attract larger fish and little more, accomplishing the intended task as designed. Open in design and able to see through, generally tubes and sticks that are easy to get fishing lures around, they attract larger fish to a designated area for a short time in transition between cover, made for fisherman to enjoy. One job well done when placed and designed in such a manner that the desired species of fish feel comfortable using it. More at fishiding.com
Silt and sedimentation are clogging our nation’s waterways and reservoirs. Years of fluctuating water levels, erosion, development, nutrient loading and decomposition of natural materials, have put these waters in dire need of improvements. Fish habitat, which includes habitat for countless other equally important aquatic organisms, lacks to the degree on many U.S, waters, that no amount of fish stocking can improve the fishery. Without adequate habitat, the fish simply cannot survive.
Sedimentation fills mouths of bays
I met Shane Titus, Seneca Nation of Indians Fishery manager over three years ago as we began to talk about fish stocking, fluctuating water levels and ways of improving overall fish habitat on the Allegany River/Reservoir. Shane contacted me directly to understand more about our artificial habitat products and working together with ways to improve his local conditions. Here is a man with a unique perspective on Tribal rights as well as American U.S./State policies. Proudly having an Indian mother and Italian father, his gentle blend of both “sides”, make it evident that he is a special and highly qualified man for this job. His utmost concern is for the land, waters and the creatures within, helping sustain this natural environment, which breathtakingly surrounds himself and his people in western New York.
Allegany River flowing into the Allegany Reservoir through western New York’s Seneca Nation of Indians Reservation land.
Shane understands the benefits of adding habitat. He has installed habitat structures in the reservoir for many years and has a quite impressive reputation as a fisherman. “Because the reservoir is so lacking of good habitat, almost anything you add will usually hold some fish.” Prime habitat for all animals, including fish, focuses around diversity. All of the same is rarely best, no different than we humans see things. A less stressful environment grows healthy beings and fish health also is directly related to the stress they encounter surviving from fry through adulthood.
Silt clogs Allegany Reservoir/ river shallows
To best understand a healthy fish habitat, imagine a large tract of mature hardwood forest, noticing the plants from tiny grasses and ferns, up to shrubs, bushes and trees. Countless shapes, textures, densities and elevations provide unlimited choices of surroundings, depending on creatures needs. Tiny bugs and insects, utilize the fine forest floor, hiding and grazing on the abundant food available. Birds eat berries and some of those bugs, from the lower branches of bushes and undergrowth, while they defensively watch for danger from above or below. Deer, rabbit, and other small game enjoy the shade from the undergrowth as they hunt or rest. The bigger the tract of forest, the more variety and abundance animals it can/will sustain. Fish habitat is no different than a mature and healthy forest, requiring infinite variety to support diversity and abundance.
Unlimited detail, textures, shapes and sizes of habitat within a forest setting.
Increasing fish habitat groupings on a large scale creates unique areas and corridors for fish to flourish and increase in numbers, not simply attracting a few fish to the area for potential fisherman/predator fish to enjoy. The surface area of the habitat grows the food (periphyton) with more area being best and essential to a healthy eco-system. Tight, dense shaded areas are essential for small fish to hide and graze within the protection the substrate offers. Dense, ultra-fine cover at the water’s edge restores the once healthy mass of roots and aquatic plants, grasses and invertebrates that young fish need. Natural weed beds and large rocks once provided this surface area for periphyton and algae to grow, but now they have been lost to sedimentation.
Fish congregate around artificial habitat with food source and cover.
Titus was instrumental in obtaining a grant to help construct a new fish hatchery on the Reservation a few years back, which is now pumping out walleye and smallmouth fry annually for the Allegany.
Seneca Nation Hatchery
His next goal was to get the financial help needed to begin to reclaim areas of the Allegany Reservoir that had been degraded. “We have almost no shallow cover left for the fry, due to erosion and siltation. Bays that lock in fish as they lower the water levels, killing everything left. We need to scoop that stuff out so they can navigate in and out like they used to be able to.”
Siltation causing trapped fish resulting in massive fish kills.
As Shane continued to follow up on applications for various grant opportunities, our plans to work together to improve conditions on the Reservoir within the Reservation began to take shape. In late summer of 2014, notification was received of a grant award to the SNI from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation being part of the Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency grant funding. I got the call from Shane that his application was approved and how he was not only grateful, but quite humbled. “Our people could never have been able to afford and accomplish so much, so quickly, on a scale of this size. This will make a huge, positive impact on the fishery across miles.”
Siltation creating barren underwater landscape.
Plans were made to drive the 600 miles out to review the site, along with numerous models of our Fishiding artificial habitat. Decisions were to be made as to which artificial habitat models would be best, where the grouping would go and the overall quantities involved.
Fishiding.com produces artificial fish habitat from reclaimed PVC vinyl siding contained in a weighted base. Models from 18” tall up to 15 feet create unlimited variety, textures and densities of cover, creating a truly natural underwater landscape for aquatic life to thrive within. Over 2300 units consisting of five different models were selected totaling over 64,000 sq. ft. of surface area, ranging from 48”x84” to 18”x30” in size.
Means being used to document the habitats ability to provide sustainable habitat and deter erosion are by way of sonar equipment, water quality testing, underwater cameras and scuba certified staff. We (SNIFWD, USACE, USFS, and PAFBC) will be looking for signs of life such as invertebrates, algae growth, insect life, eggs of all life (insects, fish, amphibians, etc.) and any species of fish utilizing the habitat for shelter and food for research purposes and decision making for future habitat projects.
Fishiding habitat holding eggs
“It’s a no brainer as I see it,” said Titus. “Using this safe, durable, long-lasting material for fish habitat instead of buried in landfills, is a win for the people, fish and the environment. We can grow that stuff right into the shoreline, creating fry habitat and stabilizing the bank at the same time. We can plant them like balled bushes and watch them grow with life each year.”
Areas to be included in the Allegany Reservoir Restoration and Resiliency Project
I was welcomed by Shane and the team of conservation officers at the Fish and Wildlife Department who proudly work to sustain this pristine land they call home. A first-hand view of the Reservoir in November, Shane showed me the areas that we had talked about, in dire need of restoration.
We walked the river edge, casting jigs for some feisty walleye and smallmouth, catching a few and releasing them back to swim away. “ I keep a couple here and there, but they still feel like my babies” Shane explained, after raising and releasing hundreds of thousands of fry from the SNI Hatchery facility he operates on the Reservation, releasing them into the Reservoir. He showed me areas devoid of cover, after erosion and low water had worn away the plants, depositing sediment where rock/rubble once exposed. Huge bays landlocked, explaining how many fish die each year, being stuck with no way out as water levels drop, despite volunteers and staff netting and saving thousands of fish each season. Water marks so high, trees and plants were washed away, only to leave the water’s edge barren for fish to contend with in the spring as they attempt to successfully spawn.
Low water exposes a barren litoral zone along the Allegany River/Reservoir.
Needless to say, excitement grew with the dream of being able to work along the river on a very large scale. To install thousands of individual habitat units creating tens of thousands of square feet of surface area would boost the fishery measurably. Concentrating on shoreline stabilization and fry recruitment, all targeting depths from 6 feet of water and under for the little fish, bugs and plant growth. Another additional benefit of large groupings of habitat is the excrement discarded by the fish and creatures that inhabit it fertilizing plant growth. Clearly aquatic growth, grass and weeds take root in the surrounding lake floor, being fertilized by the fish from above. Another win-win for the fish and the environment.
Bass on fishiding habitat
Project Abstract
The goal of this funding through established partnerships with the PAFBC, USFS, ACE will be to restore the habitat within the reservoir and create an enhanced water system that can tolerate high water events with minimal loss to wildlife and habitat.
The Seneca Nation of Indians has a long history of struggling to maintain its land base and yet there remains a unique and harmonious relationship between indigenous people and the concept of environmental sustainability. The Seneca people believe fully in the tenet of their forefathers, that everyone must plan for the future generations, up to and beyond the seventh generation. The current conditions that exist within the Allegany Reservoir create an intolerable struggle within the people as they are forced each year after year to witness thousands of fish dying, species disappearing or become species of concerns, a vital wildlife habitat lost. Over the past 60 years this reservoir has had numerous high water systems into the reservoir, suffocating aquatic species. Each event results in species lost, habitat lost, channels filled and community flooding.
The people of the Seneca Nation live and work on the same lands today that the Seneca people have inhabited for over 1000 years. The Seneca Nation holds title to five distinct but non-contiguous territories located in western New York, an area of the state where communities are primarily rural in geographic location. The territories are unique in its economic, social and environmental profile. With 53,884 acres, the Seneca Nation controls and holds a significant land base in western New York.
“The Allegany River/Reservoir Restoration and Resiliency Project”
Objectives/Outputs/Outcomes:
Create a healthier habitat for aquatic species within the Allegany Reservoir
10 acres will receive in stream habitat restoration efforts.
50 acres will benefit from artificial and natural habitat structures.
Enhance the flood plain and habitat restoration of the Allegany Reservoir through riprarian buffer restoration.
18.94 miles will have large debris removed from shoreline area.
10 acres will receive indigenous plantings.
Restore hydrology to land locked areas of the Allegany Reservoir.
7 land locked areas will be reconnected to the Allegany Reservoir.
15 acres will be cleaned of sediment, silt and nutrients.
The habitat has been delivered and equipment is in place. Over the next two years, Shane and his team will work all year around, improving the many areas covered within the grant. A great deal of the work will be during the winter months, when water levels are down and lakebed areas exposed. The team will use an earth auger to drill/install the many pole clusters to be installed to regain a plant base in the many washes, streams and creeks flowing into the reservoir. These barriers will catch debris during runoff, creating a medium for plants to begin to take hold. Dozers, trucks along with a good amount of manpower will begin to remove the 1000’s of cubic yards of sediment from the bays and openings, allowing the fish to again, freely pass.
Habitat being loaded for Seneca Nation Allegany Reservoir Project
The artificial habitat units will be planted individually in shallow, drilled holes and backfilled like a balled bush. Planted in large clusters, these units will become exposed each year as the water levels drop in the fall, but take on new life each spring as water levels rise and fish move in to seek spawning protection. Not only will the shallowest models protect fish, but allow shoreline plants and their roots to attach and take hold, strengthening and buffering the eroded shallows. With this substrate in place, only good things follow.
Shallow Cradle model for fry and shoreline stabization
Late in 2014, the Seneca Nation hosted its third annual “Allegany Reservoir Management Meeting”. Agencies that are represented at these meetings are: SNI Fish and Wildlife, SNI Administration Representatives, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, New York State department of Environmental conservation, US Army Corp of Engineers, ( KInzua staff, Pittsburg District), US Fish and Wildlife Service (Tribal Liaison, Great lakes rep., Hatchery Lamar PA, and Hatchery Kinzua PA), US Forest Service and California University of Pennsylvania. Topics discussed at these meetings are all the topics mentioned in the grant, plus stocking strategies, fish sampling surveys, fish pathology and funding opportunities. These “first of their kind” meetings are a shared water body being managed as a single water body.
Aquatic species that will benefit from the habitat are: Walleye (tribally significant species to Seneca culture and heritage) Smallmouth Bass, Large Mouth Bass, Black Crappie, White Crappie, Paddlefish (endangered), Northern Pike, Muskellunge, White Bass, Yellow Perch, Bullhead, Channel Catfish, Sunfish, Rock Bass, Sucker, Emerald Shiner, Golden Shiner, Fathead minnows, Spot Tail Shiner and Bluegill, Fresh Water Jelly fish, Aquatic spiders and Macro invertebrates.
Wildlife also benefitting from the habitat: Bald eagle, Golden Eagle, Cormorants, Loons, Ducks (all species), Canadian Goose, Osprey, Green Heron, Blue Heron, Snapping Turtle, Painted Turtle, Leather Back Turtle, Hellbender (amphibian, species of concern) and River Otter (species of concern)
Increased stewardship among the Seneca community will be an immeasurable benefit of this project. The SNI Fish and Wildlife Staff provide educational programs directed at youth to teach them about the environment and its importance to the health of all fish and wildlife. The SNI Fish and Wildlife Department plans on using these projects to create a three year educational tool for the youth and general public. The Seneca nation newsletter will be doing periodic articles to keep the public informed and involved in all aspects of the projects, to include the purpose, reasons, and outcomes of the work.
For more information regarding Reservoir habitat restoration, funding and other projects taking place, visit Friends of Reservoirs, which SNI Fish and Wildlife and Fishiding strongly support. Friends of Reservoirs (FOR), is a tax-deductible non-profit foundation dedicated to protecting and/or restoring fisheries habitat in reservoir systems nationwide. FOR is the funding arm of the Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership, an organization of natural resource professionals and industry representatives, associated with the National Fish Habitat Partnership. FOR is also a coalition of local citizen groups dedicated to improving fish habitat in reservoir systems. David Ewald/ Fishiding.com
Underwater photography by Eric Engbretson, all rights reserved. For a complete library of Fishiding habitat underwater in various locations and conditions see Eric’s work here. Watch for much more information, photos and reports as this project gains momentum. We will be making many trips back to see Shane and his crew improving conditions on the Reservation. Fishing poles and tackle must be present for “testing”.
